Spiritual Experiences (Buss) n. 3625

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3625. Hence arises the melancholy of many persons, hence debilitated minds, hence the deliriums of many men, hence too insanities and phantasies; for those who are engrossed in thought concerning spiritual things, concerning the life after death, concerning misfortunes, into such persons spirits, from their own proprium, infuse many things which are of memory, and hold them a long time presented, even till they occasion insanities and phantasies. Wherefore those who affect a solitary kind of life are especially prone to fall into such things, for they are dispelled by varieties, and thus by [mingling with] societies. Still more does this arise from the solicitude of self-love, and more yet from the love of gain, and a pondering upon the future, and especially if any signal misfortune comes into the account, so much the more are they driven into phantasies, and at length into insanities.


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